Tehachapi pilots award scholarships to local students

The Tehachapi Society of Pilots (TSP) has recently awarded scholarships to local area students for aviation and aerospace related pursuits. These scholarships have been made possible by contributions from area businesses and individual contributors. Local area businesses and individuals making major contributions include; Galactic United (Mojave), Jennifer's Terrace (Tehachapi), Adaptive Aerospace (Tehachapi), The Space Ship Company (Mojave), Scaled Composites (Mojave), Skylark North Glider port, The Garage, The City of Tehachapi, Glen McCullough, Florence Kailiwai-Barnett (Lancaster), Mark Pestana (Air Art) and Dr. Jones (Tehachapi). A big thank you to these contributors and others for making these scholarships possible!

A total of four scholarships were awarded or completed in 2017. The TSP awarded three academic scholarships to Tehachapi High School graduates. These scholarships, totaling $5000, were awarded to students who are pursuing college degrees in aerospace related engineering fields. The scholarship recipients were Tanner Herman, Sam Kelly, and Mark Henderson, all local high school students pursuing aerospace related engineering degrees. A fourth scholarship of $5000 was awarded for the purpose of providing support for flight training. This scholarship was awarded to Jake Wyatt of Tehachapi. TSP paid the majority of the flight costs and covered study material and exam fees. A TSP member and certified flight instructor provided the flight instruction free of charge. The student was asked to contribute a small monetary amount as well and local business, "Recover Your Cub", provided discount airplane rental. This allowed Jake to complete the requisite training and pass his FAA private pilot check ride with flying colors earlier this summer.

The TSP will be co-sponsoring with a local Experimental Aircraft Chapter (EAA) "Young Eagle" free flights for youth and sponsoring a celebration of flight and fundraiser at the Tehachapi Airport on September 9, 2017, to provide community awareness and aviation and aerospace related scholarships for local area students in the future. Guest speakers at the public event include Space Ship One astronaut Mike Melvill.